Limuel Celebria, a UPHS Diliman alumnus, has taken to Facebook to debunk the historical revisionism peddled by the FB page Maayon the Great about Martial Law and the rice shortage in 1972.
Maayon the Great wrote on October 16, 2021 that the photo he just shared with the caption “Pila sa bigas noong panahon ni Marcos (1972)” is solid proof that life was hard in 1972 because people had to join a long queue just to buy rice. The OP remarked that Filipinos saying life during Marcos era was good is a lie. You had to make do of burgor, the swine feed in the US, if the queue ran out rice. The OP jeered at Filipinos who called Marcos years the golden age of the country.
In the FB post, Celebria confessed that he joined rallies and boycotts during the First Quarter Storm because his emotions got the better of him due to what he called the “gathering turbulence of student activism”.
Celebria claimed that in 1972, he cannot recall lining up for rice in Manila. It was only a year later when his family moved to Iloilo and personally experienced the rice shortage when his sister had to join line of rice buyers from an NGA truck. He thought rice shortage was unique to Iloilo and it was not true in Manila.
He realized later rice shortage was nationwide. He asked if the rice shortage was due to declaration of Martial Law as the picture shared by Maayon the Great would want to suggest?
The answer is an emphatic NO.
Celebria went on to ask the help of the New York Times article dated August 10, 1973 to support his assertion that the rice shortage in 1972 was not due to Martial Law declaration but because of the series of disastrous events that occurred in 1972: insurgency, severe flooding in the Central Luzon – then the country’s rice granary, followed by a 10-month drought.
Celebria wrote that the rice shortage did not last long to cause famine, thanks to President Marcos swift action – sending inspectors to warehouses and stores all over the country to seize hoarded stocks.
The 1972 rice shortage experience was the impetus that made Marcos to start Masagana 99, an agricultural program to attain rice self-sufficiency was launched. The goal was reached in 1975-76.
You may now read Limuel Celebria’s original FB post below now.
Historical revisionism 101. Beyond pictures and memes.
I belong to UPHS Class ‘72 in Diliman. While studying there, I got carried away by the gathering turbulence of student activism historians now call the First Quarter Storm. I joined rallies and boycotts.
What I don’t remember is lining up for rice in 1972. It was only a year later when my family moved here to Iloilo that there was a rice shortage and my sister and I had to line up to buy rice from an NGA truck. At first I thought, “Mahirap pala ang bigas sa Iloilo. Sa Manila wala nito a.”
It turned out the shortage was nationwide. Was the shortage due to the declaration of Martial Law as the picture would want to suggest? No!
An August 10, 1973 article by the New York Times gave three reasons – insurgency, severe flooding in the Central Luzon – then the country’s rice granary, followed by a 10-month drought.
By September, 1973 the country’s commercial stocks were running out. Even the government’s buffer stocks were depleted. There were imports coming from Japan, China, Taiwan, and Thailand. But everyone had to tighten his belt. Panic set in and even other basic food supplies were being hoarded by traders.
Ferdinand Marcos stepped in. He sent inspectors to warehouses and stores around the country to seize hoarded stocks.
“Show no mercy to profiteers and hoarders,” President Marcos told them. “We must now eat what we have, we must bear the brunt of nationhood otherwise we will not be fit to be independent and free,” the New York Times quoted Marcos as saying.
Thankfully, the rice shortage did not last long enough to cause famine. To recall, it was also in 1973 that Masagana 99, an agricultural program to attain rice self-sufficiency was launched. The goal was reached in 1975-76.
It turns out, Marcos and Martial Law became the saving grace of this dire patch in our history. [New York Times]
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Source: Limuel Celebria
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